It’s quite possible that all girls go through a jazz phase in college. Mine was named James. He was a senior and I was a freshman, and while I knew his invitation to the Chicago Jazz Festival wasn’t necessarily a date, it was nice to be walking toward the lakeshore with an older man within a couple of weeks of moving to the big city for college. And I was very interested in jazz, all of a sudden.

I have no idea where James is these days, but I can still put my hands on the first jazz CD I bought, a compilation of French guitarists he suggested that fall. And I’m grateful that my crush gave way to genuine appreciation for the art form. Wherever he is, I’m confident James would be gratified to know that he’s most responsible for the fact that I played John Coltrane for some friends last night.

James and his musings about jazz and faith (we were at a Bible college after all) might also be the reason that I was curious when I heard the title of pastor Robert Gelinas’s recent book, FINDING THE GROOVE: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith. Gelinas is the lead pastor of Colorado Community Church and has come to think of himself as the church’s resident jazz theologian. He sees jazz not only as a form of art, but as a way of life.

He points to jazz poets of the Harlem Renaissance like Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison to show that the key components of jazz --- syncopation and improvisation, namely --- could characterize other art forms as well. And, as he writes, “If jazz is more than music, then the jazz-shaping possibilities are endless.”

Gelinas studied the Bible as an undergraduate and missiology in graduate school. As he puts it, his first degree was concerned with what the scriptures say, the latter focused on how we communicate and live the faith in the various cultures of the world. But rather than go abroad to explore how to live out faith in another culture, as the study of missiology might suggest, Gelinas has worked to contextualize Christianity in American culture and points to jazz as an untapped resource.

“When I look at our history and culture with ‘missionary eyes,’ I see something indigenous that we have yet to fully explore and apply to our faith,” writes Gelinas. “Embedded in our way of life is something that has shown the ability to produce creativity, diversity, community, innovation, and depth. Moreover, it originated in the church though the church abandoned it, rejected it, and has all but forgotten it exists. What is it? It’s jazz.”

Gelinas goes on to unpack different aspects of jazz, including syncopation, unresolved tension and ensemble dynamics, to show how these ways of playing music can also provide guidance for reading scripture, grappling with the problem of evil and living in true community. Gelinas’s passion for jazz comes through loud and clear in smooth prose that might have you nodding your head as though it carried its own beat.

At times the jazz metaphor seems somewhat tortured, which Gelinas might argue is missing the point. Jazz isn’t a metaphor, its a method. Or, more strongly put, it’s a medium. It’s the style, though not the substance, of the Christian faith. And this will resonate more strongly with some readers than others. But all will benefit from this fresh perspective on the rhythm of Christian life.

The book also functions as a kind of introduction to jazz music and a survey of the important era in American history during which this music first flourished. Gelinas does a service to all in introducing otherwise unfamiliar readers to John Coltrane, the world of the Harlem Renaissance, Ralph Ellison, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and others. His story about the almost-partnership between Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham gave me goosebumps to think about what might have been.

But jazz lives on --- in recordings, in nightclubs, and, if Gelinas has his way, in churches and in the lives of Christians across this country. As he writes, “When we embed our spirituality so deep into our lives that it can exist not only when we are doing spiritual things but in the midst of our vocations and avocations, then we have discovered a jazz-shaped spirituality.” I can dig it.